I've been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I started selling cool rocks even before I sold lemonade. At age 8, I hired my two friends to deliver newspapers and gave them 75 cents a day, and I kept 25 cents. I've gone on to start much larger companies, divisions within companies, both within the US and outside, that have led to both success and failure. Venture backed, partnerships, bootstrapped, high growth, retail, commercial real estate, technology, energy, B2B, B2C, B20 - nobody is there to buy) and more. I’ve learned my greatest life and business lessons from my failures. I recently completed a book for Wiley & Sons, entitled The 7 Non Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results, which you can read about here: http://www.7nns.com. My current company, Fishbowl, is a culmination of everything I’ve learned over my 30-plus business years.

Confessions Of A High Maintenance CEO With No Plans To Repent

Yes, I am a high maintenance CEO. But we have accomplished great things. And we know how to have fun. (photo courtesy of Salt Lake Tribune)

In my previous article, I mentioned that I would be discussing high maintenance employees this week. You have most likely read statistics on the cost of high maintenance individuals in the workplace. According to GoogleGoogle, “it is staggering.”

Several articles recently suggested that you might be “high maintenance” if you respond with a yes to three or more of the items below:

You get overly excited about little and big things

You email too much and include everyone on the email threads

You don’t sleep enough on a regular basis

You don’t eat enough bran

You multi-task and push limits and boundaries

You question everything

You worry about little and big things

Because I am a CEO with more than 30 years of work experience under my belt, you might assume what will follow are tips from the latest experts to help you eradicate or rehabilitate high maintenance employees in your organization.

Trent Devy cuttin' a rug at the celebration dance off when we prepaid our $1M company loan (photo courtesy of Salt Lake Tribune)

Instead, I have a confession to share with you. When I first took the quiz with a few people on my team, I was a little embarrassed to be the only one in the room who responded yes to all 7 questions. Yes, I am the reigning High Scorer.

Here are my responses:

1. Get overly excited or emotional about little and big things

Nearly 9 years at Fishbowl – I still get excited when a new employee comes on board. I cry when our employees are hurting, when they get married, bring new babies into the world or achieve milestones in their work or personal lives.

2. Email too much and include everyone on the email threads

I love to email, tweet, FacebookFacebook, etc. I love to share with the world our achievements at Fishbowl.

3. Don’t sleep eight hours a night

Of course I don’t sleep. There is too much life to be lived and not enough time. There are people to email, tweet and Facebook, and most days I’m just too excited to sleep. I could never figure out balance. “The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.” — James Michener

4. Don’t get enough bran in your diet

I am a protein man – so the term “regular” is not in my vocabulary.

5. Multi-task and push limits and boundaries

Last week this question was on the list of what remarkable/extraordinary people do. I am not too proud to push, dig, roll up my sleeves, and do whatever I can for those I care about.

6. Question everything

Yes, I do question everything – especially surveys from experts who label and define us with seven bullet points. I don’t question to judge; I do it because I believe when you are actively engaged you have a burning desire to learn more.

7. Worry about little and big things

If you care, you worry. It just is what it is. That’s about as Zen as I can get.

Some days you just have to cut loose. (Photo courtesy of Salt Lake Tribune)

How does this help you or your organization to improve and grow? Well, if you’re anything like us, we believe it’s great to hone the ability to celebrate people who come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. It’s an approach that brings vibrancy and uplifting energy to an organization. We hope we represent the fact that it’s time to stop putting people in sterile boxes, judging and labeling them. Seek to understand one another and create an open environment where people are respected and issues are tackled together. We “beat the tar” out of challenges and love our people, and I am deeply grateful to the people of Fishbowl for putting up with their irregular, irreverent, high strung, high maintenance CEO who cherishes them.

And let’s not forget about the staggering cost of high maintenance. In our case we’ve grown consistently over the years with both high and low maintenance employees. In fact, there would be no Fishbowl today without the employees who demonstrated high courage to stand for what they believed in. If you’re interested, I invite you to check out a few of our other “high maintenance” individuals on the Fishbowl Newsstand in our expanded story about the ways to recognize and eliminate technical debt. Thank you for reading!

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I think that this “high maintenance” individual that the article describes is someone that get things done. David Williams is someone that will do, and not just talk about it. Great article about traits of a highly motivated and successful individual.

I really like the 5th point. Every person that has influence history has had to push the limits on the normal conventions of the day to be able to push themselves and society to a new level of enlightenment.

My name is Andrew Jones. I am lucky enough to be part of the Fishbowl team. When Dave said, “I am deeply grateful to the people of Fishbowl for putting up with their irregular, irreverent, high strung, high maintenance CEO who cherishes them.” he is not kidding!

I have never worked for anyone who has cared so much about his/her employees, customers, and company. I just want to say how awesome it is to work for a “high maintenance” CEO who eats, sleeps, and breaths Fishbowl and its employees. It is us who cherishes you Dave! Your drive, worry, lack of sleep, mass amounts of protein, and abilities have led us to where we are today.